The present invention generally to reels for supporting or storing flexible media such as wire or cable, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present invention is also amenable to other like applications.
Reels for supporting wound flexible media have been used for many years and are employed to both store and facilitate the dispensing of wound media such as rope, wire, electric cable, tubing, chain, strings of parts and the like. The general components of a reel include its core, around which the flexible media is wound, and its flanges, which prevent the wound flexible media from migrating axially off of the core.
Conventionally, wooden reels or even composite wooden and metal reels have been used to store and dispense media. However, such reels have been expensive to manufacture, cannot be shipped in a knocked-down condition, or if so shipped, required extensive labor by the end user in order to erect them and were themselves substantially heavy. Once empty, the reels must be disposed of or returned for reuse. Disposal is generally not an environmentally viable option. Further, because the manufacture of these reels is expensive, disposal is not economically advantageous.
On the other hand, the return transportation of these reels present other problems. For instance, cable reels take up a considerable amount of space which imposes a limitation on the number of reels which can be loaded on a vehicle. As such, the transportation of empty cable reels can represent another significant cost.
Thus, well-designed reels must combine a high strength to weight ratio with low manufacturing cost. The reels are preferably reusable and capable of disassembly or reduction in size when empty. One reel design that has gained popularity for certain applications includes a collapsible reel in which the core is constructed of a pressed paperboard material and the flanges are constructed of a composite or plastic material. The use of paper and plastic components, in general, provides a high strength to weight ratio compared to wood and metal, is less expensive to transport and easier to manipulate, and facilitates the use of relatively straightforward manufacturing techniques. Moreover, paper products are generally easier to recycle. Another lightweight reel design consists of a pressed paperboard collapsible core and corrugated paper flanges.
Although attempts have been made to manufacture a collapsible, reusable reel, the prior art still has many disadvantages and drawbacks. For instance, many of the collapsible reels are too complicated and too expensive to manufacture. Other reels are not strong enough to withstand the loads of many media when reeled upon the core. Still other prior art constructions remain bulky and difficult to handle even when collapsed.
In light of the foregoing, it becomes evident that there is a need for a collapsible reel that would provide a solution to one or more of the deficiencies from which the prior art and/or conventional reels have suffered. It is still more clear that a collapsible reel providing a solution to one or more of the needs left by the prior art while providing a number of heretofore unrealized advantages thereover would represent an advance in the art. Accordingly, a need exists for a lightweight collapsible reel that has a high strength to weight ratio with low manufacturing cost.